What it Seems
by footballprincess
Summary: Leo opened the door for her because he's a gentleman, believed her because he's an optimist, fell for her because he's a sucker, and is searching for her because he's stubborn. Reyna met him because she planned to, befriended him because it was her job, lied to him because it was her cover, and loved him because rules are for breaking.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hello! I know I haven't posted much of anything in a while, and I apologize. Applying to colleges has been taking up much of my time. (Hopefully all the essays taught me a thing or two about writing?) Anyway, I hope all of y'all had a great holiday season, and your new year is going well so far.

As for me, I've started my first alternate universe kind of story with our beloved Percy Jackson cast of characters. It's been interesting staying true to each individual while finding them a part in the narrative. I hope you enjoy, and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson (or any of the other references I make in here) and no one is paying me to write.

 ** _PROLOGUE_**

 _Leo had no idea why he was tied to a chair attached to the barre of a dark dance studio. Or when he had gotten here. Or why a man twice his weight was walking towards him with a knife strapped to his belt._

 _He took a deep breath, and pretended to be brave. "Oh, good. You're here. My feet are falling asleep a little, so if you could just UNTIE ME FROM THIS CHAIR –" he began shouting. He was cut off by a punch to the jaw._

 _"You are not funny." The man growled in a strange accent. "You are not here for jokes."_

 _"Then why am I here?" he demanded. He wasn't sure why he was shouting, but it made him feel a little tougher in the room full of dangerous-looking armed people._

 _The man shoved a photograph unnecessarily close to his face. "Where is this woman?"_

 _"She's visiting her family." He answered. He looked at the man quizzically. "Why are you asking? Who are you?" Since when did it matter so much what a blue-collar woman did in her off time?_

 _The man slapped him across the face. He could taste blood in his mouth. "Don't lie to me! Do you know who I am?"_

 _"I literally just asked you, amigo." Leo snapped, feigning bravado. "Where are we and why am I here?"_

 _"Where is this woman?" he demanded. Leo ignored him, looking around desperately for an escape. The man punched him in the ribs. He was trying very hard not to cry. "Where has she gone?"_

 _"I told you! She's visiting family in Mexico!" he shouted._

 _A violent – looking woman walked in, her boots thumping authoritatively. "Well?" she demanded, her tone impatient and tense._

 _"He pretends to know nothing." The man explained, waving the photo with frustration. The woman squatted down to his eye level and squinted at him. He could practically smell the grime on her bandanna. She looked familiar for some reason, but he couldn't recall where he'd seen her before._

 _"He's telling the truth. He really doesn't know anything." She said. Leo sighed with relief. "Turn him loose."_

 _"It's been nice." Leo quipped as the man obliged, rolling his wrists and ankles as they were untied. "Y'all have a good day, now. And maybe please stop stalking my girlfriend."_

 _"Hilarious.' The woman deadpanned. "Follow me, punk."_

 _Leo groaned. He had never even won a game of arm wrestling in his life, he stood no chance here. Unwillingly, he followed her out of the building. Once they were out of earshot, she shoved him behind mattress left next to a dumpster._

 _"Listen very carefully. In 38 seconds, my friend is going to drive by in a silver Camry. I need you to get in it. You're going somewhere safe, but keep your head down." Leo jumped at the sudden shift in events. "Do you understand?"_

 _His mind was reeling so much he was fairly sure he was going into shock, but nodded anyway. He had a million questions, but only a few seconds to ask. "She's – she's not visiting family in Mexico, is she?"_

 _The woman blinked at him in confusion. "Why would she be? Reyna is Puerto Rican."_

Feel free to leave comments, criticism, questions, or bad puns!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hi again! I was so glad reading the wonderful reviews y'all left. Thank you especially for the kind wishes about the University Admission process, it made my day! I hope this chapter will be just as well received, and I can't wait to hear your feedback.

Just a quick explanation of how the format is gonna work, since there's two storylines: The regular text is the past, as they remember their story, and the italicized text is the present, as it unfolds. The two timelines will meet up into one narrative in future chapters, and I'll explain that once we get there (and once I figure it out myself)

About updates: I'll try to put up a chapter a week, but that depends on a boatload of variables, so I can make no promises. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan.

 **One year ago**

Ok, he'd never been great with girls, but his mother raised him to be a gentleman. So he got up from his seat and nearly knocked over his chair, and rushed to hold the door. The lady at the door was familiar; they spent mornings before work at the same café. She was struggling with a tray containing four coffees-to-go, a purse, a laptop bag, and an armful of portfolios.

"Let me get that," he offered, and she moved aside to let him hold open the door to the café. She was dressed elegantly, and smelled like jasmine. She smiled gratefully, and suddenly Leo couldn't do anything but stare at his feet.

"Thank you so much, you're very kind." Leo shyly muttered something along the lines of 'it's no trouble.' the woman readjusted her grip on her belongings. "If you don't mind, would you mind going with me to my car? It's just a couple seconds from here, and I could use someone to open the trunk."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Leo agreed quickly. They walked a block to where her car was parked, her heels clicking in sharp contrast to his boots.

"I'm Reyna, by the way." She said when Leo had opened the trunk of her car and made sure the coffees were secure in cup-holders up front. "Thanks again. Let me buy you coffee sometime?"

"I'm Leo. And I'd definitely like that." He responded, grinning widely.

 _"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he cursed himself, scanning the road for a silver camry. He should have known right away something was up. Beautiful girls like Reyna, in pressed pencil skirts and blazers, did not ask boys like him on coffee dates. He couldn't believe he'd been silly enough to believe she was interested in him – of course there was something hidden. And now, in the space of a day, he had gotten kidnapped and told to wait for what he assumed was a getaway car._

 _The woman with the bandanna was already back inside. Maybe it was his paranoia, but he thought he was starting to hear gunshots. Where was he? Where was this damn car?_

 _Where was Reyna?_

Ten year old Leo Valdez had once sworn he would never wear a tie – too stuffy, too formal, especially for late summer. Ten year old Leo had never been asked to have coffee with a gorgeous girl. Scratch that. Leo at any age had never been asked on a date. Was this a date? Maybe he shouldn't have worn a tie after all.

Reyna came into the café, this time not carrying her laptop case or portfolios. "Good evening." She smiled, sitting down and smoothing her skirt. "You look nice."

"You too. You always do. But I assumed that's for work, so that's different. I mean – it's not – " he broke off before he embarrassed himself by rambling further.

"Thank you." She interrupted.

There was an uneasy silence. Leo picked up his menu, though he knew it by heart. "So, umm. They got a pretty good chicken parm sandwich here." Then he mentally kicked himself. Why would he say that? Of course she knew. She'd eaten breakfast here every morning for a month or so.

"Do they? I wouldn't know, I'm only ever here for breakfast." She replied, looking up from her own perusal of the menu.

"Me too, but I change things up a bit." He responded. "Some mornings you just feel like having a sandwich, you know?"

"You can't just eat a sandwich for breakfast." She explained, her full focus on him. "That's like trying to share a cupcake."

"What kind of person doesn't share cupcakes?" he feigned horror.

"The kind of person who eats regular breakfast food for breakfast." She explained very slowly, smirking a little. "A civilized person."

"Aw, and here I was thinking you weren't just a boring wearer of suits." He teased.

That must have rubbed her the wrong way, because she frowned. She reached under the collar of her blouse and pulled at a chain. She jangled her dog tags at him. "I used to wear a uniform. Interesting enough for you?"

"I didn't know." He said sincerely. Maybe he should have been scared of her – the dog tags, her pristine appearance, the calculating look on her face. She wasn't a girl-next-door type, but that was fine. He was into dangerous girls. She held his stare a little longer, and his throat felt dry. _Why_ was he into dangerous girls, again?

She sighed. "Now you do."

"So, what prompted the change in wardrobe?" he asked, nodding his chin towards the dog tags she was still clutching.

"I got injured." She said simply. "And now I work a civilian job. What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm an engineer. I own a tech firm downtown."

"You didn't get that burn on your hand making trinkets." She said. He was surprised she noticed. Maybe he talked with his hands more than he realized.

"Volunteer firefighter." He said simply.

"That would explain it."

"Okay, well this happened at the station, not on a call." She raised her eyebrows, so he continued. "One of the guys was retiring, so we got him a little cake and everything, and when I went to light the candle I dropped the match and set the table on fire. And then tried to swat it out with my hand. Which went about as well as you could expect."

"You're a mess." She informed him, her face completely serious.

"At least I don't discriminate in what foods to have at breakfast." He shot back, grinning.

 _"I drove the point home enough times. He thinks I'm an honorably discharged wounded veteran turned high school principal. And he joked about it after we watched GI Joe." Reyna said, referring to her supposed military service– she had been recruited by the CIA straight out of Special Forces Training, but on any official records she had served three tour and then been shot in the leg. She and Annabeth were in the cockpit of a helicopter, shouting at each other through headphones._

 _"So he completely believes it? He wouldn't suspect your real job?" Annabeth pressed. She knew how it had gone_

 _"He's not stupid, of course he could." Reyna snapped. Thalia had just texted her that she had picked him up and was taking him to a safehouse and would meet them for the last leg of their assignment._

 _"Why did this happen? It was the perfect plan; it should have gone off without a hitch. Why's your target so damn nosy?" Annabeth ranted. It_ was _the perfect plan – it hinged on Reyna's lack of visible emotion._

 _"His name is Leo." Reyna's voice was hard – a change from its usual robotic quality._

 _Annabeth glanced at her briefly, trying to guess what she was thinking. "In here, his name is target."_

Leave Reviews! See ya next week!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Hey y'all! I am back again with a new installment. I'm sorry it's late, but hopefully I'll be better about posting in a timely fashion in the future. Thanks for the reviews, as always, and I hope you enjoy this!

Disclaimer:  don't own, not rich, don't sue.

Reyna probably had much better things to do than spend an afternoon watching movies with him, but that didn't stop Leo from driving to her apartment with DVDs and snacks for an Iron Man marathon. She had never seen _even one_ of the Iron Man movies, and Leo just couldn't have that. Besides, it was the Sunday before Labor Day and she wouldn't have work.

Her neighborhood was a little out of the way, and several of the buildings seemed to be vacant. Only two streetlights were actually working. Leo wondered why a seemingly well-paid woman would choose to live here, but his musings were cut short by the barking of what sounded like very large dogs.

"It's Leo!" he called when he realized the doorbell might not be working. "I have movies and snacks please tell me your dogs won't kill me!" She probably wasn't even home; she was probably doing something way cooler –

"Depends on if you brought dog snacks too!" Reyna called from inside, in a slightly strained voice.

"Do they eat beef jerky?" he shouted. Why were they yelling at each other through the door?

"As a society, we ought to have advanced far past beef jerky." Reyna said thoughtfully, finally opening the door and inviting him in. The dogs ran up to him to sniff his shoes and the bag in his hands, but left him alone after some stern tongue-clicking from Reyna.

"What's wrong with beef jerky?" Leo asked, setting down the food. "More importantly, what's wrong with your arm?"

Reyna didn't miss a beat and looked at the sleeve of her wool cardigan like she'd just noticed the dark stain. "Oh, that. I had borscht for lunch and spilled some."

"Yikes. I hope you didn't burn yourself." Leo shrugged. "Anyway, I have the entire Iron Man trilogy with me and we're going to watch it because otherwise you would be missing a cinematic masterpiece."

Reyna snorted. "I take it you've thought of nothing else since I told you I've never watched another superhero movie with impossible science and unnecessary explosions?"

"Haven't had a wink of sleep."

Reyna plopped onto the couch while Leo fiddled with her DVD player. She had technically finished the work she had needed to, and while her idea of unwinding involved more punching bags and less binge watching, she'd been in worse situations.

Besides, Leo had remembered to bring her favorite kind of jellybeans, sworn not to hog the pretzels, and was a hilarious commentator. It may have been different from her usual routine, but it sure beat a day on the job.

 _"You know a guy for two weeks, watch a movie marathon with him, and call it a honeypot?" Drew guffawed. Reyna didn't even know why they were talking to her right now; they were still en route to their mission and Drew should have been at HQ. This was not the time for casual gossip, especially not with someone whose job was to make disguises and occasionally run comms._

 _"It was a long con, not a honeypot." She snapped, the tension in her voice surprising both Annabeth and Drew._

 _"You were supposed to get him to fall in love with you." Drew pointed out. "That's a honeypot."_

 _"I was supposed to distract him while I figured out how many of his clients had connections to Kronos." Annabeth cut the line, and glanced at her partner questioningly. That was the same thing printed in her dossier, but they'd had diametrically different roles. Tailing, staking out, and profiling the engineer's clientele had been Annabeth's side of things – Reyna was the one who got her hands dirty, sent to break whatever rules and hearts and bones must be broken to get what they wanted._

 _"Don't rise to the bait." She said firmly. "She's just bored."_

 _"She's bothering me." Reyna sighed. "Everything about this damn op is bothering me."_

 _"Stop talking like an old person." Annabeth ordered._

 _Reyna supposed she should, she was only 28 years old. But almost 10 of those years had been spent with the Agency, moving up the ranks, because she understood the power of the violence within her. Because she was willing to use it._

 _"I'm three months older than you." Reyna informed her partner. Then she mentally slapped herself. Since when did she make jokes at work?_

Leo's phone rang as the credits were rolling at the end of the last movie. Reyna raised an eyebrow as the Superman theme song blasted, stifling her laughter as Leo fumbled while trying to answer it. He knew personalizing ringtones would come back and bite him.

"Hi, roommate." He said, his face still flushed. "Back already?"

"It's nine o clock." the voice on the other end said impatiently. "I got back an hour ago. I was about to order pizza, are you gonna be back soon? And will you be needing pizza?"

"I will always be needing pizza, man." Leo laughed. "Wait, hold on." Covering the phone with his hand, he loudly whispered at Reyna, "Do you want to come with me and eat pizza?"

"We've been eating junk food almost non-stop for almost five hours." Reyna informed him. "Are you nuts?"

"Of course I'm nuts, and it is excellent pizza. It's from this place with an actual stone oven." Leo pressed. "And my roommate has a really cool working mini rollercoaster. Which I helped him build." He boasted.

Reyna sighed. "I suppose. But only for the rollercoaster."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes. Get an extra pizza though, I'm bringing a friend over." He hung up quickly, getting up to put on his shoes.

Reyna was shaking her head at him, but she was grabbing her purse too. "An entire extra pizza?"

He grimaced. Was that offensive? "I mean obviously you don't have to eat the whole thing but I thought you could because we're about the same height and _I_ can eat an entire pizza so I assumed – but if you want you could just eat some slices and eat the rest tomorrow or something and I really just wasn't sure if you could eat an entire pizza." Great, he was rambling. There had to be a way to tell someone you liked spending time with them without offending them by making assumptions about how much pizza they could eat.

"I could eat _you,_ probably." She snorted. "But I appreciate the intricate thought process you put into ordering takeout."

"And not a minute ago you were complaining about eating nonstop."

 _"I'll be by tomorrow." The lady said. She might have been trying to be reassuring, but her spiky necklace and piercings made it sound like a threat. "Goodnight."_

 _"Will you tell me what's going on?" he pleaded, holding the door open as the lady tried to close it. It was late. He had just been driven down a farm-to-market road at a hundred miles an hour. His fear and exhaustion were justified._

 _"It's classified." She said curtly._

 _"Even to the people who are involved in it?" he begged. He was only roughly aware of crossing some state lines, and though he thought they were somewhere Maine-ish, he wasn't sure whether to trust that this house was safe. "Please, is there anything you can tell me?"_

 _"You are not involved." The woman said, sighing in frustration. "The only reason you are alive right now is because one of my co-workers is soft on you." She said co-workers like they carpooled and did office gift exchanges together. "A pair of agents will be nearby for your safety. You will find a radio inside if you should need to call them."_

 _"Agents? Do you know where Reyna is? Did she say anything before she left?" he asked again. Surely everything would make more sense once she was here._

 _"I'm not at liberty to say." The woman's voice was stiff and formal. She pressed her lips together, glanced around, and then hissed, "Look. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but you're way out of your depth. But she wants you safe, and I'm assuming you don't want to die. So stay put, and don't make trouble." She winced as the color left his face. "Don't ask more questions you don't want answered."_

 _"Is she okay?" he asked, his voice shaky._

 _"That's classified." She replied. "And are you sure you want to know?"_

The plot thickens!...Kind of. It'll get more intense soon, (and in all likelihood the chapters will get longer) so enjoy the fluffy happiness while it lasts. Leave a review! Til next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**_Author's Note: Guess who's absolute balls at posting things on time because school is terrible? Me! Thanks for your patience, and keep the reviews coming._**

 ** _Disclaimer: not my property_**

The neighbors probably thought they were drunk, but Leo was laughing too hard to care. "I can't believe you tried to attack Susan!"

"She attacked me first! And I can't believe you named the raccoon that lives under your porch!" Reyna retorted, torn between laughing and sighing with frustration.

"Hey, Susan is a valued member of this household." Leo warned jokingly, opening the door to the lovely smell of pizza

"It's a _raccoon_ named _Susan._ " Reyna couldn't quite get past that as she hung up her purse on a coat hook.

"At least I didn't name my pets after elements." He shot back, leading the way to the kitchen where the pizza surely awaited.

"Latin is elegant. Susan is a soccer mom." Reyna grumbled, following him. Leo made mocking noises. Three boxes of pizza were set on the little table; Leo's roommate was perched on the counter with a slice in one hand and a book in the other, wearing only a pair of basketball shorts.

He looked up when he heard the noise, and visibly paled when he realized he was only half-dressed. "Leo!" he whispered fiercely. "You didn't tell me – " Leo pursed his lips at him as he opened his own box: he had told him to expect company.

"Jason Grace," The blonde boy sighed, introducing himself. "I ordered you veggie pizza, hope that's alright. And I'm sorry about this; I usually dress better, especially in the presence of a lady." Reyna was trying to be subtle about her staring, but Jason's face grew redder. "Didn't catch your name, it's nice to meet you."

"Reyna Ramirez. The pleasure is mine." Leo cackled gleefully, although a case could be made that Reyna staring at shirtless Jason made him oddly uneasy. "Your roommate tells me you have a rollercoaster."

 _They landed the chopper in a fairly well-hidden cove, and gave thanks for the beaches of South Carolina. Solemnly, Annabeth tore out a sheet from a notepad. It was a pre-mission in-case-of-failure ritual of hers, to write a little note and stuff it under her seat, only to be delivered if the worst should happen. When they had first begun working together, they would be addressed to her birth mother or step-brothers, containing a few formal sentences. These days, since a fight with her family, they were always for 'Seaweed Brain,' the young Marine Sergeant they had worked with on a few missions. Reyna hoped she would never have to be the one to deliver the shoebox full of notes._

 _Surprising herself, she grabbed a sheet of her own from the notepad. Usually she preferred to do a final once-over of her weapons or just sit in silence, but that was before she had someone to say goodbye to: Leo, his roommate, the woman who owned the café, the attorney with feathers in her hair, the man who trained the bomb dogs at the police station…_

 _Annabeth raised her eyebrows questioningly. "He named the_ raccoon _, Annabeth." And it was such a stupid thing to fixate on, but she had felt so old that day when she had tried to remember the last person she met who was cheerful and funny and hopeful enough to name a stray raccoon. "No one names raccoons." She wasn't explaining this very well, surely her practical and serious partner was going to tell her boss and that would be the end of Reyna's status as a deadly and formidable force in the Agency._

 _But while Annabeth the spy would have rolled her eyes and told her to stop blabbering about nonsense, Annabeth the person understood. "I have published research papers and magazine articles and even a book." She said quietly. "But these notes are still hardest to write."_

 _"It'd be a lot worse reading them." She said grimly. They brooded in silence for a bit, reflecting and penning a few simple lines, waiting for the final signal._

 _"Every agent has that mission." Annabeth said, trying to make her voice brisk. "The one where it finally hits you that you can never properly go back."_

 _Reyna wondered exactly what she meant by 'go back.' In time? To her job? To herself?_

 _All of the above?_

"Excuse me, ma'am, but that table has been reserved for someone in about ten minutes from now." A petite woman with dark skin and curly hair told her. Reyna recognized her as the owner. "I'm very sorry, but you'll have to move." She sounded very apologetic.

Reyna grabbed her book and finished the last bite of her sandwich. "It's no trouble at all. I was just going." She put a ten-dollar bill on the table, tucked neatly under the little wooden decoration. "The food was delicious, as always."

It was unusual for her to be at the café for lunch, but she just couldn't see eating a chicken parm sandwich for breakfast. (Someone had told her that paying attention to such details would help her adjust into the civilian world after the unpredictability of her job.)

"Thank you. I hope I'll see you again soon." The woman smiled kindly, clearing up Reyna's plate and glass. Just as Reyna stood up to leave, something loudly crashed through the screen door in the back, tearing it partially off its hinges. Reyna's hand went immediately to her sidearm before she realized starting a firefight in a crowded restaurant would be beyond stupid.

The woman did not miss the sharp movement. She stared at the side of Reyna's blazer, before carefully stating, "I'm sure it's just a baseball or something. I'll go see about that."

Reyna followed her. She was too good to be made this early in the mission, she had made sure this café had no clean shots from the surrounding buildings, she didn't want to fill out paperwork for crossfire casualties –

She expected a hundred awful scenarios other than a now-crushed helicopter, a mortified Jason, and a sheepish Leo standing there with a telltale remote control in their hands. They were having a heated debate about _but I thought adding rockets would be cool_ and _who's the pilot here?_ At the sight of the owner, Jason began apologizing profusely. "We are _so sorry_ , We didn't think it would go that fast and get out of control, I promise it won't happen again, Ms – "

"Miss Levesque." She huffed. "Hazel is fine." Reyna rolled her eyes, wishing for _just one_ easy mission. But she was definitely having second thoughts – how could a guy like Leo willingly sell technology to a guy as demented as Kronos? If he was involved in all that, surely he didn't fully understand what he had gotten himself into.

"I promise I can have this fixed in a half hour tops." Leo piped up.

Hazel sighed. "You do that. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe don't add rockets to a toy you plan on playing with in crowded areas." The boys mumbled a very guilty chorus of 'yes ma'am'

"I have a toolbox in my car, it's parked just here." Reyna volunteered, moving to get it. Leo invited himself to tag along.

"That's a very big bag." Leo said when she opened the trunk of her car. "What's in it?"

"Not a toolbox. Focus." Was he ADHD or something?

"It smells like gunpowder in here." He told her.

"Why do you know what gunpowder smells like?" she asked, half joking and half suspicious. Maybe he was involved after all.

"I'm from Texas." He shrugged. "Why does your car smell like gunpowder?"

"Why did you add rockets to a toy helicopter?" she shot back.

"Toy helicopters break flimsy screen doors. Guns kill people. It's a very different scenario." He pressed, picking what tools he needed. "Now unless this bag is full of fireworks that you're keeping from me, I want to know why your car smells like gunpowder."

"They're sparklers for a friend's wedding next week." Reyna sighed. "Grand exit and all. And why would I want to keep explosives away from someone who thinks it's a good idea to fly a rocket helicopter into the side of a building?"

"Where's the wedding? Is there an open bar? Can I go?" He thought he remembered Reyna saying she was from Mexico, and knew that Mexican weddings followed a very more-the-merrier philosophy; he was seriously dying for a night of salsa music.

"You, alcohol, and incendiaries." She scoffed, but smiled fondly. "I don't want the world to end just yet."

 **Bonus chapter today to make up for my lack of timely updates! Stay tuned! Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't even have a good introduction for these anymore, except I still don't own PJO, and Y'alls reviews will raise my morale going into finals.**

 _Leo dropped the pitcher of water and stood still in shock. Who the hell carried a duffel bag of sparklers in the trunk of a car? How had he been stupid enough to believe that?_

 _She hadn't even brought back any wedding favors, no stories about the reception party, not even so much as a photo. All she'd said about it was that she had tried to break up a fight between two drunken uncles, which perhaps explained the black eye, but certainly not the broken arm._

 _He didn't even remember what she'd told him about the fracture, only that he had believed it._

 _He suddenly couldn't do anything but try to list any concrete details he knew about Reyna. She was an inch shorter than him. She spoke Spanish. She was very private and she was away often. There were scraps he no longer thought were real: She moved from Mexico when she was ten. She played basketball in high school. She had served three tours in Afghanistan. She was the principal at an all-girls school. She was very touchy about a certain olive-wreath metal headband. She wore those one-button blazers even if it was warm._

 _More facts bubbled up at once and he wondered if they were true until the broken glass he was stepping in all but faded away. She made flan from her late abuela's recipe. She got airsick when Jason took them up in a plane. She had promised to go horse-riding with him sometime. She liked him and his friends. She had told him she loved him._

 _The kidnapping, the getaway car, the safe-house, the agents by the door, the endless list of things that were classified didn't compute with the serious, sweet girl who had –_

 _Who had never explained her more-severe-than-necessary injuries after her trips. She had never introduced him to her parents or friends. She had never really questioned the sharp drop in business the shop had experienced last winter. Hell, he didn't think she had even told him the name of the school she worked at._

 _Deciding to ignore the broken pitcher, Leo went to search for the radio he vaguely remembered hearing about. He hoped his guards would be a little more helpful and a little less heavily armed than he was afraid they would be._

 _He hoped they would be the first people on this very long day to tell him their names._

By the time they got back to the screen door of the café, Jason had done absolutely nothing. He only held the banged-up toy helicopter in his hands, fiddling with the propeller and trying not to make it obvious that he was staring at a young woman at the table Reyna had just vacated.

Leo poked his shoulder with a screwdriver. "Are you gonna make yourself useful, or what?"

Jason apologized, his ears pink, and set down the helicopter. Reyna unwound a length of wire to repair the screen. Even as they worked, Jason was distracted. "She's been here for a half hour and hasn't ordered yet." He pointed out.

"Maybe she's waiting for someone." Leo shrugged, glancing towards the woman who was alternating checking the door and her phone. "Are you gonna go over there?"

"Not great with girls." Jason grumbled. "And she'd probably tell me off anyway."

"You weren't even fully dressed when I first met you, and we're still friends." Reyna pointed out. "So you're clearly not that bad with girls."

"You think I should talk to her?" he asked, uncertainly.

Leo waved his screwdriver at him. "Go before I skewer you." Jason neatly set down his tools, and stepped around Leo and Reyna. He approached the woman's table slowly, like he still wasn't sure.

Reyna stared after him, curious as to what would happen. Leo followed her stare. "Hate to see him leave but love to watch him go?"

"Don't be vulgar." Reyna scoffed.

"Not uncommon." Leo shrugged. "After all, he was half naked when you met him." He returned to his task, but glanced at Reyna from the corner of his eye.

"Please just focus." Was Reyna's only response.

Meanwhile, Jason was standing next to the girl's table. She was twisting the feather in her hair. Reyna and Leo strained to hear them as they worked.

"It's nice of you to notice, but it really isn't a big deal. You don't have to worry about a thing." She said. Her voice was pleasant but firm.

"Let me at least buy you a smoothie while you wait." Jason insisted politely. The girl gestured to the seat across from her, and he sat, gesturing to a waitress. "I like your name, Piper."

"So that went well for him." Reyna said, clipping off the wire. "Sock on the door tonight?"

"Now who's being vulgar?" Leo teased, picking up the tools. "And of course not, not on a first not-quite-date. He's more of a gentleman than that."

"Are you?" Reyna raised an eyebrow.

"Let's tell Hazel we're done." Leo suggested, not sure why he was blushing.

Reyna led the way to the register where Hazel was leaning against a counter doodling in a sketchpad. She looked up when she saw the two.

"We've finished the door. Sorry about that again." Leo told her. "Tell me if it doesn't hold up."

"Thanks for fixing it right away." Hazel said. "And be careful with toys like that. Someone could have gotten hurt."

"Yes ma'am." Really, he was lucky she was so friendly and forgiving about the whole thing. "Anyway, I'm just going. Let me know if you ever need anything fixed up around here, I'm your guy."

"See you soon." Hazel smiled. Reyna waved goodbye.

"Actually, I better be going too." Reyna said. "I've left my dogs alone at home."

"I see." Hazel's face was suddenly serious. It struck Reyna that behind her sunny personality, there was a woman with very sharp edges. "Oh, Miss Ramirez, I meant to tell you earlier, I really like your blazer." Reyna tried to take the compliment at face value, but her smile was fake. "Even if it is a little warm out." Hazel finished smoothly.

"Thank you." Reyna said as graciously as she could. "I think it's important to dress professionally."

 _Reyna and Annabeth crouched just out of sight of the security cameras mounted at the building's perimeter. Annabeth balanced a beacon on her knee as she double-checked the daggers in her sleeves. Reyna tied a purple scarf around her nose and mouth and pulled up her hood. (It did wonders both for the smell and anonymity.)_

 _"Tactical gear is so much better than office clothes." Annabeth said nonchalantly as they snuck closer._

 _Reyna dug tinfoil and gum out of her pack, ready to disarm the heat sensor. "Definitely. It's ridiculous trying to conceal weapons in slacks."_

 _Annabeth grunted as she hit the ground to avoid being seen by a groundskeeper in a golf cart. "That would have hurt way worse in pumps." She whispered._

 _Reyna motioned at her to be quiet as a pair of guards walked past. Sensing movement as the two women walked by, they turned around. Annabeth ran for it, ready with the USB drives that would black out the building long enough to finish their mission._

 _"You sure you're a lady cop?" One of the guards sniggered. "They dressed much nicer in my day."_

 _Reyna hit the other in the chest with a Taser and put the guard that had spoken in a chokehold. "Agent, not cop." She hissed ferociously. "And I'm always dressed professionally."_

 **Guesses? Predictions? Questions? Glowing praise? Scathing hatred? Send it in!**


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